GOP Agenda:Everything Except Jobs

Since 2008No Bill's Introduced bySenate or House RepublicansWere Job Creators

But They DidCampaign & Vote Against Jobs BillIntroduced By Democrats and Independents

May 12, 2011

UPDATED: January 2015

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Prior to the 2010 election, jobs was the "GOP's number one agenda" - sotheyclaimed (but their actions told a different story). Their rallying cry was "jobs", which was used to justify the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. However, as of the writing of this document, we haven't heard one single honest discussion about jobs.

Since the new Congress convened in January 2011, with the Republicans in charge of the House, not one single bill has been introduced that seriously addresses the growing unemployment in our country. But they've certainly addressed dozens of other issues, all of which promote their ideological agenda. As the DCCC put it, the GOP's plan for jobs is to start saying the word "Jobs" more often.

Then, in May 2011, House Republican introduced a bill (PDF) called "JOBS". It stands for "Jobs, Opportunity, Benefits, and Services Act of 2011". Naturally it's being touted by the GOP and their propaganda networks as a bill that will actually stimulate jobs. But it does no such thing!

The bill does nothing more than permit states to use federal unemployment funds for things other than unemployment benefits, such as paying down the states debt.

The GOP has only one jobs plan and it is the same one they've always had: Give corporate America more tax breaks and more taxpayer dollars. Their lastest, as of 2013, is called "The Republican No Cost Jobs Plan". and is from the office of the Republican majority leader, Eric Cantor.

The following is a partial list of bills the Republicans have introduced during the 112th Congress. Some have been passed into law and others were defeated. What you'll notice is there is not one single bill that addresses unemployment.

Extreme Makeover: GOP Edition - About 200. That's how many public laws the 112th Congress passed, a record of sorts. Consider that Harry Truman's "do-nothing" Congress managed to squeak through 906 laws, and the magnitude of the 112th's resistance and rigidity becomes appallingly apparent. Moreover, with the economy sluggish and the unemployment rate still hovering around 8 percent at any given time - and at 14 percent for African Americans and 10 percent for Latinos - not one of those laws was a jobs bill.

Four Republican Bills That Are Not About Jobs - Four Republican Senators - Thune, Toomey, Hutchison, and Brown - held a press conference today, to remind Americans about their job creation legislation. "Capital formation for our job creators?" Ooookay. What's that mean? And what does it have to do with jobs? Thune goes on to explain, after telling us that the bills in question all passed with bipartisan support in the House, that these bills were "designed to help that are designed to help our small businesses create capital." Didja catch that? It happened so fast that if you blinked you may have missed it. Thirty-eight seconds into the video we've gone from job creation to "capital formation" to helping businesses "create capital." At one minute and four seconds in, Thune explains that the bills in question are intended to "help our small businesses get access to the capital they need to create jobs."

Anti-Union FAA Bill Passes Congress - The FAA reauthorization bill has passed Congress with its anti-union provisions. Once again big companies of the 1% were able to use their money and power to buy legislation that hurts 99% of us. And many Dems joined in.

Like the Ryan Budget? Then You'll Love These House Spending-Cap Bills - ...two bills (H.R. 3576 and H.R. 3580) that would limit federal spending to levels similar to those in the budget of Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) that the House passed last April. These bills are part of a package of ten bills that Chairman Ryan and other committee members introduced to change the federal budget process. As our new paper explains, these two bills would disproportionately hurt low-income people, worsen recessions, rule out balanced deficit-reduction packages, and promote deep cuts in Social Security and Medicare.

House votes to repeal CLASS Act - The Republican-led House on Wednesday voted to repeal a financially troubled part of the 2010 health care law that was designed to provide affordable long-term care insurance.

American Energy Infrastructure Jobs Act - "This is a jobs bill because it reforms the transportation funding process in Washington and removes government barriers that are getting in the way of job creation and long-term economic growth." Any bill that gives corporate American anything they want is always a "jobs" bill in GOP world.

The 27 Republican Bills That Aren't About Jobs - Most of the GOP's "jobs" proposals aren't really about job creation. Instead, the majority of the bills are meant to advance the GOP's radical deregulatory agenda, and many would sacrifice the health and safety of Americans for the sake of a bottom line. A large portion of the bills would have the effect of hampering the Environmental Protection Agency's prerogative to carry out its duties in keeping our air and water clean. One measure would undermine the federal government's ability to enforce coal ash standards that help keep carcinogenic chromium out of the air. Others would halt Cement MACT and Boiler MACT rules, which together will prevent thousands of deaths and health issues caused by air pollution. Other bills among the 27 are aimed at obstructing regulations more generally, proposing to dilute agencies' efficacy by adding bureaucracy and congressional oversight. Although it would be inconvenient for the GOP to admit, studies have found that claims about the burden regulations place on job creators is extremely overblown.

SOPA, The Crazy Bill Everyone In Tech Is Worried About - it would "allow the U.S. government and private corporations to create a blacklist of censored websites, and cut many more off from their ad networks and payment providers." The US Government could block Americans from visiting websites. In straight talk, it would allow the government to decide who could have a website and who couldn't.